Accounting for Physiotherapists: Should you start or join a clinic?
Starting a career in a new field will always bring on certain challenges. For Physiotherapists, one of the major questions is whether you should open your own physiotherapy clinic or join an existing clinic. While many of the pros and cons are attributed to a general discussion of whether you even want to own your own business, a physiotherapy clinic has different points of consideration. We are experts in accounting for physiotherapists in the GTA, so let’s get into some details.
Do you want to be in charge of a physiotherapy clinic?
The first thing to consider is whether you even want to own a business. As a business owner you get to be in charge and have the freedom to make choices based on how you want your physiotherapy clinic to run. However, if you are in charge, that means that you are responsible for making sure that the clinic is running smoothly. You may also be the lead person responsible for association relationships such as with the Ontario Physiotherapy Association.
This means that you are in charge of ensuring that your clinic is in compliance with industry standards such as those regarding health & safety and privacy (including the difference between personal and professional health information).
While there are more things you need to manage, you can also control your work life balance, professional growth, and your overall profitability – you can always cut expenses or work more to gain more profit.
Physiotherapy clinic accounting & financial considerations
Walking into an existing clinic as an employee or even a partner means you won’t have to consider things like how you will finance the set up of a clinic. More often than not, start up costs for a physiotherapy clinic are higher than you would think, so you need to ensure you work with an experienced professional to help you build a proper financial forecast. Your forecast needs to include things like equipment purchase (identify what you absolutely need and what can wait for now) and negotiating your location lease.
How will you find clients?
Marketing is a significant part of running a physiotherapy clinic. In order to become profitable you need clients. This means you need to understand your market – including who your competitors are, what your potential clients are looking for, and how much you can charge for your services. Once you understand your market you can create a brand and a website so they know how to find you and what you services you offer.
Pick the right physiotherapy clinic financial team
Payroll and labour considerations can be hard to manage because it is time away from doing what you do best, working with your clients. As a physiotherapy clinic owner, you will have control over the team you work with on a daily basis – and you can also hire an expert to help you manage the tedious financial management. As Accounting Specialists for physiotherapists in the GTA we can help you with all aspects of accounting & financial management of your physiotherapy clinic.
How much time do you want to spend working on the business?
Business owners, especially when starting out, have to wear many hats – practitioner, HR manager, office manager, and even accountant. For some, that can be overwhelming, especially considering that one of the hardest things business owners face is insufficient financial knowledge. As an employee, you only have to worry about your own finances. However, as a business owner, you can work with an accounting and tax expert for physiotherapists to help you manage tasks such as your ongoing bookkeeping, billing, and overall accounting. You don’t have to be an accountant to run a physiotherapy clinic. You need to be able to delegate tasks to the right people.
We are Accounting Specialists for physiotherapists in the GTA and we can help you focus your time and energy on building your practice instead of tedious bookkeeping duties. You can reach us by calling (905)-831-6383 or use our confidential Contact Form.
